Book review
Written by Christopher Golden
Pocket Books paperback
Release date Out now

Demons are gathering at a Hellmouth in Rhode Island, as an old member of the Scooby Gang makes a surprise reappearance…

There are two narratives in Dark Congress – the tale of the titular meeting of the demons and a story about the return of Tara, Willow’s witch lover who was killed by a stray bullet near the end of the show’s sixth season. Unfortunately in his efforts to serve both, Golden ends up satisfying neither.

Resurrecting dead characters is always risky, particularly if the original death has been especially meaningful or poignant. Golden clearly believes that Tara’s death wasn’t meaningful, and there’s a constant emphasis within the novel on Willow and Tara getting a second chance at happiness. However, her death was poignant, and the consequences of it very far reaching. Resurrecting her negates the impact of her death rather than giving it extra meaning.

The Dark Congress plotline becomes a device to reunite the Scooby Gang – the only people of note missing are Angel and Cordelia. We get an over emphasis on the changes that have happened – if I’d read one more time that Xander was no longer the comedian, I think I’d have thrown the book away. Then once they’re together, they actually don’t do more than some demon crowd control… To use Buffy-speak, waste, much? Paul Simpson

VERDICT: 4/10
Golden penned some of the best tie-in novels in the series (The Gatekeeper Trilogy for a start) and his return to the range should have been a cause for celebration. Sad to say, it isn’t.